How many Americans know what the Fourth of July really means? Patrick Henry’s words sum it up: "Give me liberty or give me death." How many Americans would say this today? Yet we are having our liberties taken from us in countless ways by all levels of government.

The Fourth of July is the perfect day to say, "No more. We are taking back our liberty and the control of our lives."

If we don’t do this now, it will be too late tomorrow.

Then, the Fourth of July will mean only hot dogs, beer and meaningless parades.

Bill Keller, Scotch Plains

No vote on human rights

Gov. Chris Christie still doesn’t get it. As far as he’s concerned, the only way "to change the core of a 2,000-year-old institution" such as marriage is by a popular vote of the electorate.

Thankfully, enlightened American leaders long ago recognized that the majority does not always support the basic human rights of the minority, preferring instead to maintain their own economic interests or prejudices at the expense of others’ civil rights and dignity.

Shamefully, the institution of human slavery has existed far longer than 2,000 years.

Would Christie question President Lincoln’s authority to issue the Emancipation Proclamation or that of Congress and state legislatures to adopt and ratify the Thirteenth Amendment banning slavery without a popular vote?

If he has the slightest ambition or opportunity to become our president, I certainly hope not.

Institutions — no matter how old — that deny basic civil rights to a minority should never be perpetuated and enforced by majority rule. Sometimes, leaders must demonstrate the integrity and courage to protect the rights of all without the comfort of a referendum.

The New Jersey Legislature has already taken that step in recognizing same-sex marriage; it’s time Christie did what is right to eliminate the inequities without the expense and delay of a public referendum.

Joseph Gervasi, Denville

Respect court’s authority

Some 210 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice John Marshall, defined the equality of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government and established the authority of the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of laws passed by legislatures in this country, including Congress.

For two centuries, every law declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court had been enacted by a legislature presumptively expressing "the will of the people."

Gov. Chris Christie, angry at the Supreme Court’s ruling that the federal Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional, challenged the court’s right to make its ruling.

He called it "just another example of judicial supremacy rather than having a government run by the people we actually vote for."

Those who deny the Supreme Court’s authority have either never understood the rights established by Marshall’s court, or have forgotten them. Christie, a lawyer, should know better.

Robert Leopold, Livingston

Rutgers’ dim future

When the Rutgers Act of 1956 created a two-board governing structure, one goal was to insulate the school and its assets from politics. We have come full circle.

Those who bargained for a bigger share of medical research dollars than they received want retribution and they have the governor’s ear: They want to shut down the 247-year-old Rutgers board of trustees and fill the much smaller Rutgers board of governors entirely with appointments made by the governor.

Way to de-politicize it.

Rutgers will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Trenton.

Our leaders will run the place like a fiefdom with plum appointments for their friends, and Rutgers, the state university, will become Rutgers, the state agency.

The Star-Ledger’s June 28 editorial ("In-state tuition: carrot or stick") stated: "A bachelor’s degree can be worth $1 million in lifetime earning potential and a ticket out of poverty."

Would The Star-Ledger hire a person in the country illegally who received a master’s degree in journalism from Rutgers? Would the newspaper ignore federal law and hire this person even though background checks verify that person is illegally in the United States? Where is that person — who gets a discounted tuition to attend a New Jersey state college, if such a bill becomes law — to be hired legally?

Why offer discounted tuition for a degree that is useless in the United States? Or is this a ticket to return to a person’s native country to make that a better place?

Peter R. King, Rockaway Township

Show no mercy

This should be easy: You see child pornography, you do it or distribute it, you should be sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. You should get the same consideration you gave the kids: none.

Definite death sentence in prison, you say? Should have thought about that before you ruined so many lives, so much potential. Besides, unlike the children raped either actively or passively, you have a chance.